Happy Explosion Day, Stinkpot
by Kestyn
Summary: Puck claims he has a 'surprise' for Sabrina, but she is pretty confident it involves her either getting covered in an unidentified chemical, publicly humiliated, or her eyebrows being burnt off. She takes her chances, anyway. One-shot.


"Where are we _going_?"

"Look, what part of _'it's a surprise'_ aren't you getting?" Puck inquired over his shoulder as he pushed another branch out of his way, carefully bending it so he and his companion could pass through. Several pixies floated amongst them, illuminating a small clearing in the foliage in which they now stood. It took a moment for him to confirm their location, but that gave time for the blonde trailing after him to catch up, stumbling over a tree root in the process and snagging hold of Puck's elbow on the way down. The girl was dragged back to her feet without much effort, but rather than thanks, she offered only a glare that was made visible by the offset glow of the pixies.

"The part," Sabrina Grimm replied, plucking out a stray leaf that had entangled itself in her hair, and waggling it in front of his face. "That has us traipsing around in the woods in the middle of the night!"

"It's like...ten." Puck snickered openly, retaliating the girl's irritated stance and disapproving face with a comical expression.

"The middle of the night." She retorted, as though saying it twice made the comment truer. The pair stood there a few more moments, before Sabrina let out a complying sigh, starting to move in the same direction they'd been traveling for the last thirty minutes. She paused when the weight of one of Puck's hands settled on her shoulder, turning her back towards him. "What now?"

"We go this way." The fairy boy said matter-of-factly, gesturing to his left as the pixies zoomed off in that direction, beginning to light the way for them.

"...why?" Eyebrows drew in close together, and Sabrina's face twisted into an expression of suspicion. "We've been going in this direction all this time."

"_I know._ Now we need to go this way."

"Are you lost?"

"No!" Puck puffed his chest up in mildly truthful outrage. "I don't _get _lost!"

"You're lost." Sabrina accused, a smirk on her face, and the beginning of a harsh laugh swelling in her throat. "You've gotten us lost in the woods at night, congratulations—! "

"Look, I'm _not_ lost." Puck snapped back, moving in the direction he'd indicated, and making no show of waiting to be followed. "I've been this way a hundred times, _in the dark_. I know where we are. It's this way."

"I'm going back to the house." Sabrina announced flatly, rolling her eyes.

"No!" Puck spun on heel before he could stop himself, one hand around moving as if to grab hold of her wrist and force her to follow. He caught himself in the middle of the movement, half forward and half back, trapped in some unfamiliar limbo of inaction. Sabrina looked on, seemingly as startled as he was by the response. Puck recovered quickly enough, straightening and trying to brush the moment aside. "Look, I...I really want you to...just..."

He frowned; obviously annoyed that waving his hands about and clenching fists wasn't making the words come correctly any faster. In the end, he sighed, pushing a hand through his shaggy hair and finally meeting Sabrina's objectively interested face.

"Just trust me, alright?"

His green eyes were wide and intense, instead of the regular playful hue in which Sabrina was so familiar with. It was kind of unnerving seeing him so different than his usual boastful obnoxious self, if Sabrina was being completely honest. She wondered what just this boy had set up, for he didn't tell her anything when he pulled her into the kitchen a few hours after lunch, only instructing her to meet him behind the house when it started to get dark and to _not to tell Daphne._

Sabrina's curiosity had gotten the best of her, but before she could begin questioning him, Henry Grimm had trudged through the door, probably trying to sneak some of Granny's German Chocolate Forest Cake before dinner. The three had stood in an awkward silence, Henry glancing between his eldest daughter and the fairy boy suspiciously. He then turned slowly, and walked right back out into the living area, then could be heard complaining to Veronica like he just had the absolute worst inconvenience happen to him. Rambling on about something like, _"Remember the good old days when she thought they had cooties? Well, I think this boy actually has them. Stop laughing; I'm serious!"_

"Fine."

She trudged forward, passing her guide briskly, while Puck gawked for a minute as though he hadn't expected his sincere floundering to work. Sabrina wasn't sure exactly why it had swayed her. Wonders never ceased.

"C'mon, I'll lead." Puck was back on track, grinning victoriously. It was almost enough for his company to regret giving in, at least until the ground underfoot gave way to a slanted stretch of pebbles and sand. There was barely two feet of the little beach, curling into a tiny alcove in the shape of a crescent that was framed on all sides by the trees. At the edge, almost in the water, was a large tree stump that had snapped at some point long ago, and settled into a vertical chunk of wood with a deeply set groove on its surface. _"We're heeeeeere!"_

"Uhh…I really don't know what to think."

"Great! Don't." Puck pushed her toward the trunk, Sabrina stiffly letting him guide her, despite the apprehensive look on her face. "You talk too much when you think."

Sabrina's eyes were scouring about, inspecting in vain for any of the Trickster King's well-laid traps that usually ended in her being covered with a concoction of things that should never be mixed together. When the two reached the water's edge, she spun around on him suddenly, fixing him with a look that carried the connotation of suspicion like nothing else.

"Keep your pants on," he drawled, then with a dramatic sigh, threw his hands up, palms facing towards her and fingers splayed in surrender. "No pranks _this_ time, I swear."

"Huh," Sabrina waved off aid and climbed onto the tree on her own accord, something Puck wasn't that surprised about; she will always and forever be stubborn. "I'm thinking there's more to this _surprise _than you taking me out to a lake in the middle of the woods, at a time when normal, non-crazy people are indoors?"

"Grimm, you really have no idea what today is, do you?"

"Fourth of July, right?" Sabrina replied after a few moments of after-thought, remembering Granny saying something about having guests over for a big BBQ tonight, though Sabrina was only halfheartedly paying heed to what she was going on about.

The family had been tracking down the last, remaining members of the Scarlet Hand, after the fall of Mirror, and it was proving to be taxing work. The eldest Grimm sister had been working around the clock, trying to get some sort of lead on the allusive affiliates, _trying_ to be of some assistance, but none of the traces were found beneficial. She found herself constantly fretting of an uprising if they didn't find them soon, and it had taken a toll on her sleeping pattern; the days and nights blending together in a garbled pattern.

"Well,_ duh._" Puck spluttered. "I even thought _you'd_ remember, Grimm; it's the best holiday, obviously."

"I've been kinda busy lately, in case you haven't noticed." Tone giving away she obviously didn't want to talk about this particular subject.

Puck had noticed. Of course he had noticed. The shadows under her piercing blue eyes getting darker as the days passed, the way she passed out on the living room couch with an open book resting on her stomach. When she would finally drag herself from downstairs and sit down at the table, ending up just picking at her food. The day he discovered her in the spare room, sitting on the floor. She was facing an empty wall, the wall which Mirror use to hang. Venturing closer, he realized she was crying; trying to hold them back, stubborn as she was, but they slid down her cheeks anyway.

She was the _last_ person he ever thought he'd see break down; to crumble. But there she sat; crying over her best friend that she thought would never betray her, who was responsible for _everything._ He came to sit by her, and she noticing his presence, started to hastily wipe her face with the back of one hand. The bickering children sat there, Sabrina hiding her face and Puck looking at her and feeling something _break_ inside of him.

Reaching over, he firmly clasped his hand in hers, not even considering what kind of aftermath it might cause. To his utter amazement, she had tightened her grip on him, fingers entangling and knuckles white. They sat there for a long while, until her tears were dry, and he knew somewhere; deep down, something had shifted.

The blonde scooted in order to make room and Puck followed her up, at first considering a seat on the end so that he was not imposing on the usually firmly protective personal bubble the girl enforced, but in the end he decided to toe the boundaries, as usual. When Sabrina didn't shove him away, or punch him in the face, he gingerly laid an arm on a convenient branch behind the girl's shoulders. Then let out the breath he hadn't been aware he was holding.

So far so good.

"So? Why are we here?"

"Give it a minute." Puck tried to not nonchalant, but his nerves were starting to fray a little. He chanced a look at his minions, who buzzed brilliantly in affirmation that they were right on time. Any second now, and all his planning would lead either to a success or bust. After years of tradition, it would be just his luck if some desk jockey somewhere ruined this for him.

He needn't have worried.

A whistle and stream of white announced the arrival of his surprise, and the sky burst into a shower of scarlet and yellow light, hanging for an instant as if clinging dearly to the very air before the pinpricks of color fell away. Another followed, almost immediately tailed by two more. Green, pink, blue, purple. They shot into the atmosphere one after the other, as if trying to reach ever greater heights and escape into the night above and join the stars. In a manner almost timid, Puck's eyes drifted toward his companion, to gauge her reaction.

Beyond an initial flinch of surprise, the blonde was mesmerized. Certainly she had seen fireworks before; New York was famous for attracting massive crowds for its holiday shows. But, that was with the gigantic skyscrapers and piercing lights. Out among the trees and the still darkness, they seemed to envelope the whole sky, turning it into a kaleidoscope of circular rainbows. They almost danced, different arrangements of color blending in a way that was almost eerie, and yet enchanting. The lake reflected each one back, a twin show that only seemed to strengthen the effect.

She was grinning up at the sky, and Puck could see the explosions of color reflected in her light eyes. He reached over for her hand, and she met him halfway, her fingers interlocking with his tightly. The pair sat for a few more minutes, accompanied by the loud popping of the lustrous colors in sky. The children forging something new that night; a quarreling couple more or less than they had already always been.

"Well?" Puck asked, determined to press his luck.

"Not half-bad, dipthong." Sabrina finally replied teasingly, turning to look at him with a cheeky grin, but her eyes swimming with an appreciation and sincerity that words could never fully convey.

Puck did not quite slump; he eased back against what little back support the fallen tree could provide, and let his gaze drift back to the fireworks, an elated smile lazily coming into existence. Under his breath, specifically so that Sabrina would not hear him and guess that she might have, murmured, "Happy Explosion Day, stinkpot."

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><p>FLUFFY GOODNESS. I hope you guys enjoyed it; I needed a break from re-editing the Addiction and this is what happened. Sorry if this is OOC or has a bunch of spellinggrammar mistakes, I wrote it at like 4 in the morning. SHEESH. Besides, I've never written a one-shot before, so please let me know how I did! AND IF SOMEONE GETS THE PORTAL REFERENCE, I WILL GIVE YOU A THOUSAND INTERNET COOKIES. Thanks _so_ much for reading!


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